Article here. Excerpt:

'CinemaBlend has pulled its original review of Turning Red and left its author, Sean O’Connell, out to dry after he was accused of being both a sexist and a racist over his opinion that he was not the “target audience” for Pixar’s period-narrative-centric coming-of-age tale.

Published on March 7th and bluntly subtitled “I am not this film’s target audience,” O’Connell’s review put forth the thesis that the film was a prime example of how, “Pixar has turned its reigns over to fresh voices, and given them the freedom to share deeply personal – though less universal – stories.”
...
“There’s an audience out there for Turning Red,” he concluded his review. “And when that audience finds the movie, I’ve no doubt they will celebrate it for the unique animal that it is. In my opinion, however, that audience is relatively small, and I’m not part of it.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will hold a pop-up mobile distribution for women only Thursday, March 17, from 2 to 3 p.m. indoors at Restoration Church, 1460 W. Indian Trail Road in Aurora.

Women are invited. Admission and parking are free. Identification and registration is not required.

Food items, diapers, formula, baby food and feminine hygiene products are among items to be distributed.

Rebecca Dunnigan, pantry outreach and program manager, said Women's Empowerment Mobile Pantries are planned for the third Thursday of months this year.

Additional women-only pantries are set for Thursday, April 14, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Aurora Public Library Eola branch; and Thursday, May 19, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Vineyard Aurora Church, 505 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'With International Women's Day upon us, now's the moment to celebrate the initiatives that are breaking down boundaries for women.

This couldn't be more the case for a Cornwall start-up that is on a mission to bridge the gender gap in the science, tech, engineering and maths industries by running workshops for girls and young women.

Beginning this year, Girls Assemble has been running workshops outside Redruth for girls and young women aged between 9 and 25 to equip them with core skills in carpentry, metal work, engineering, architecture, design and print.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Misogyny should be criminalised as part of “radical” and “transformative” legal reforms to protect women from abuse, a report recommends.

The document, titled “Misogyny – A Human Rights Issue”, calls for the creation of a Misogyny and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, which would create a new statutory aggravation of misogyny.

It would also create new offences of stirring up hatred against women and girls to tackle, amongst other things, the threat from incel (involuntary celibates) and other extremist groups.

A new offence of public misogynistic harassment and another of issuing threats of, or invoking, rape or sexual assault or disfigurement of women and girls, online and offline, would also be brought in.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Scottish government is to consider making misogyny a stand-alone hate crime.

A working group set up to look into tackling violence and harassment against women has recommended the creation of a Misogyny and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act.

It would include misogyny as an aggravation in crimes such as assault and threatening behaviour and create three new offences:

• Stirring up hatred against women and girls
• Public misogynistic harassment
• Issuing threats of, or invoking, rape or sexual assault or disfigurement of women and girls online and offline'

Article here. Excerpt:

'American women seem to be of two minds about feminism. Opinion polling from Pew in 2020 shows that most women under 30 (68 percent) identify as feminists. Feminism tugs at our aspirations and summons our loyalties. We want to be strong, confident, and self-reliant, like the pictured feminist. Our mothers and grandmothers have told us dismaying stories of what the workplace was like before the cultural shifts of The Feminine Mystique.

Yet nearly 40 percent of women also believe that feminism is polarizing. They are right: Modern feminism is a branch of identity politics. By functioning as an interest group that solely represents women, it has been (at best) deaf to other injustices, including a crisis in our own homes: the boy crisis.

The Boy Crisis, written by Warren Farrell and John Gray, tells the staggering story of how our young men are being left behind. By the eighth grade, 41 percent of girls are at least proficient in writing, compared with just 20 percent of boys.

Article here. I am not posting this to elicit sympathy for the Russian invasion. (Clearly this is Putin's war, not the average Russian's.) I post it to show how men are affected by war and in particular to show how they have been treated as instruments of war rather than as human beings. This is how war dehumanizes men when they are used by a country's gov't. Until it becomes totally unacceptable to use men as war instruments, tragedies like war will continue. Excerpt:

'Captured Russian soldiers broke down in tears as they told their families they had been 'sent to their deaths' in Ukraine.

The prisoners of war were interviewed on camera by Ukrainian forces and said they had been used as cannon fodder in the war.

It comes after Ukraine claimed it had killed 6,000 Russian troops durning the first six days of the invasion.

Now footage is being shared online showing some of the captured invaders complaining about the war.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Thousands are said to be trying to reach the United States to claim political asylum and avoid being forced to fight in the war with Ukraine. US immigration lawyers have reportedly been overwhelmed with requests from Russian men and their families asking if America will grant them political protection following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Record numbers of Russian citizens have already been crossing into the US from Mexico to claim political asylum in recent months, according to the Telegraph, in response to Putin’s increasingly brutal crackdown on opposition.'

MANNdat report (in German) is here. Translated article:

While the 14th female family minister in a row, Anne Spiegel (Greens) makes male victims of violence invisible in the usual way, one has to descend from the federal to the state level in the search for progressive approaches and then finds them - unexpectedly - with female equality ministers of the CDU.

The government of North Rhine-Westphalia (CDU/FDP) wants to expand its commitment to protecting male victims of intimate partner violence. At the beginning of this year, the number of sheltered places is set to double to 16. Equal Opportunities Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU):

TEDx talk here. Came across this and thought I'd share.

Article here. Excerpt:

'While his wife was in labor in the hospital with their third child, Joshua Castillo was in the waiting room completing a computer science final and two quizzes.

By then he was accustomed to juggling the demands of fatherhood with the unyielding deadlines and expectations of college, where he is studying computer science while working full time and helping raise his kids — a responsibility for which he said he doesn’t get much sympathy from faculty.

“Most professors that I’ve come across are really in the mind-set of, this is your full-time job, this is all you have to worry about right now.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Over the past few days, Binghamton University sociology professor Ana Maria Candela has come under fire for implementing what is called a “progressive stacking” model in her Sociology 100: Social Change: Introduction to Sociology course. This model would prioritize calling on nonwhite, female or generally shy students during class discussions.

Article here. Excerpt:

'With the correction, the Status of Women Committee’s call for comment on intimate partner and domestic violence gave me hope that, finally, we realized some domestic violence is genderless. My hope quickly turned to indignation when I read what the study will investigate:

– causes of intimate partner violence, including toxic masculinity;

– ways to improve support and protection for women and girls; and

– ways to eliminate barriers facing women and girls seeking to leave unsafe environments.

This wording perpetuates the myth men are violent and women are victims and leads to engrained sexism and misandry beliefs, prejudice, bias and bigotry, harmful to all Canadians.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'To help address industry diversity, Adecco subsidiary Modis has partnered with Microsoft to launch a new training course for women in South Australia interested in the space and defence sector.

Targeted at current students and recent graduates, the free, 10-week Tech Start program will commence in March, and is open to any interested female applicants interested in pursuing a career in the space, defence and technology sector – regardless of their academic and professional backgrounds.

“Tech Start further demonstrates our commitment to supporting Australia, and South Australia, in becoming a leading player in the global space industry,” said Lynn McDonald, head of Microsoft’s Azure Space, which set up shop in Adelaide innovation district Lot Fourteen last year.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It’s no secret that venture capital has a diversity problem. Your typical investor is white, male, and holds a degree from Harvard or Stanford.

Here’s how one firm is tackling the problem: No more hiring men.'